The End of My TikTok Era
Several years ago, I downloaded TikTok to see what all the hype was about. I was a fledgling author, learning the ropes and figuring out what worked. I had heard all the buzz surrounding BookTok and how it had made books bestsellers overnight, so I signed up and made a post. In my first few posts, I received way more views on TikTok than on my other social media channels. It was an amazing discovery. Unfortunately, the views didn’t last. Pretty soon, my views tumbled, and I got discouraged. It’s like so many of these social networks, or like your local drug dealer. It gave me the highest of highs first, to get me addicted, then pulled it back so I would presumably chase that dopamine high that seeing thousands of views gives you. I slacked off on it and let it fall by the wayside, but eventually I came back.
I had ended my Twitter account (I still refuse to call it X.) and needed something to supplement the marketing I had been doing there. So, once again, I cranked up TikTok, this time creating a separate Book channel to focus only on book stuff instead of whatever thought popped into my squirrel brain. To my surprise, this worked a little better. I made a series of videos with a moving background and a quote from one of my books over it. These videos got pretty consistent views and likes, but more importantly, I gained followers. It wasn’t anything Earth-shattering. I still had fewer followers than on Facebook, but I got views. I’m not talking about a few more views. On average, if I posted a video on Facebook, it would receive anywhere from 30 to 50 views; if I were lucky, on YouTube Shorts, I might receive 150 views. But on TikTok, that same video would receive anywhere from 1,200 to 3,000 views. I was ecstatic.
So I went all in and started posting constantly. Here’s where the evil of algorithms comes in. Because I posted so many faceless quote videos, the app decided that’s what I was supposed to post. If I, for instance, posted a video speaking directly to the camera to give an update on my latest book or to do a book review, I got almost no views. The message was clear: don’t deviate from the pattern, or we’ll penalize you. But I rationalized that I was getting a ton of views for the quote videos, so I ignored the drop in views on my update videos and soldiered on.
Eventually, a friend talked me into opening up about another interest of mine: professional wrestling. I was hesitant at first, but I saw plenty of creators talking about it and getting a ton of views. I figured it would be a great outlet to talk about something I loved. So I opened a second TikTok channel and started talking about wrestling. My follower count exploded faster than on any social media account I had ever used. Soon, I passed the threshold and was able to go live. I started doing “shows” where we watched Lucha Libre together, and others where I cooked while answering wrestling questions. Everything was going well, but then I found out two things.
First, if you don’t like brand A of wrestling and instead like brand B, brand A’s fans will go out of their way to make your online life a living hell. No live-and-let-live on wrestletok, as they call it. On wrestletok, if you don’t like what they like, they will jump on every post you make and talk nonstop shit. Those of you who know me know that I think arguing with people on the internet is one of the most useless endeavors you can engage in. Especially these days, when you don’t know if someone is even a real person. Second, those same fans can be extremely toxic and misogynistic. One day, I opened a post I had written praising a certain female wrestler, and the toxicity I found there made me stop posting about wrestling. At least temporarily.
Then, in something that could only happen in the weird world of my life, I ended up doing client work for a Lucha Libre company. I handled online marketing for the events, met a lot of Luchadores, and sat ringside. It was a fascinating and fun experience. While I was doing it, I had the bright idea to change my wrestling channel to spotlight only my Lucha Libre experiences. During this time, my views also exploded. At one point, I had two videos that exceeded 100k views. One maxed out at about 150k views, and the other ran well past 250k. That was mindblowing to me. I continued to fill my TikTok feed with Lucha Libre videos, while my book account, now stalled at about 800 followers, started to languish. Unfortunately, my time with the Lucha company came to an end, so I stopped posting again.
I pivoted back to the author account, but nothing worked as well as it used to. Around the same time, we started dealing with the “is TikTok going to get banned?” drama. This made me pull back, because if there’s anything I hate, it’s uncertainty. This time, I went months without posting, and my accounts went ice-cold. Eventually, I started posting on the author channel again once I felt they were never going to let TikTok go away. But nothing hit like it used to. Then, a few months ago, I had the wild idea of starting to post about wrestling again.
To my surprise, this time was much more pleasant than the last. Sure, I still had a few trolls, but instead of engaging them, I would instantly block them. After all, this was my channel; I could curate it any way I wanted. I also got some views, but they weren’t nearly as good as they used to be. (Read that as hundreds of views instead of thousands.) Then, for the sake of simplicity, I decided to combine my Author and Wrestling channels. To the algorithm, this turned out to be a disastrous move. It confused the algorithm, because we were all supposed to fit into our boxes. Since I refused to fit into a box, the app wouldn’t show my videos to more than a handful of friends. And that’s the thing about me that has always been a detriment to these machine algorithms. I have varied interests and don’t fit into a category easily. I am very much a square peg in a round hole. To make matters worse, I was finishing my new book, working on a collaboration for another project, and editing yet another project. In other words, I was too busy. So my combined channel fell by the wayside.
Then the news broke about the sale of TikTok. Once again, if you know me, you’ll know I’m opposed to monopolies. I’m also against censorship. And yes, I can’t believe I have to say this in 2026, but I’m against fascism. This sale smacks of everything I’m against, and the suppression of certain accounts and subjects was the last straw. So earlier today, I deleted all three of my TikTok accounts. Thousands of followers and endless hours spent building them up were down the drain.
But what did I really lose? Yes, I got a ton of views, but I was never able to prove that the app affected my page reads or orders in any meaningful way. Since I stopped posting, my sales and page views are higher than when I was posting regularly. In the end, I think that it was more of a distraction than a helpful tool. While I’m sure some people found out about my books through the app, it turned out to be a shiny distraction, making me worry more about being a “content creator” than writing. When it comes down to it, I’m a writer, and I’m supposed to be writing. Everything else should supplement that. For instance, to enhance my marketing flow, I’ve started looking into Substack. I’m not sure if I’ll keep it. Personally, I don’t like that they’ve added a social media aspect on top of it. For now, in addition to my social media channels, I intend to publish my blog posts on my website, through my newsletter, and on Substack, but that may change. I will also be doing some videos and trailers on YouTube, as I always have.
So, yeah, my TikTok era has come to an end. But have no doubt, my writer era will continue on forever.
– Ryan
